Tommaso Ciampa defeated Johnny Gargano in a Last Man Standing match Saturday night at NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn IV. It wasn’t the best those two have offered, but still an effective main event and an epic NXT Championship match. Ciampa has parlayed this program with Gargano into something special. He’s easily the most unlikable guy on the NXT roster, and fans everywhere eat it up. But, for over a year now, it’s felt like these two men eat, sleep, and breathe to hate each other.
It begs the question – where does the NXT champion go from here?
Aleister Black
The most obvious answer is the man who was supposed to be in Saturday’s main event alongside Ciampa and Gargano in a triple threat. We don’t know of the severity of Black’s groin injury at the moment, but all signs point to his absence from NXT being brief. We’re definitely getting a Ciampa-Black rematch at some point. It’s all just going to depend on when Black can return from injury.
Johnny Gargano
Personally, I’m of the opinion that it’s time we leave this rivalry in the NXT record books. It’s lasted well over a year by now, and it’s hard to imagine how they can keep ramping things up. That said, there’s a definite lack of baby face depth atop the NXT roster right now. So, they could aim for one more match between the two after Ciampa takes on Black, and use the time granted by that to develop a new baby face challenger.
Ricochet
Winning the North American Championship certainly complicates this idea, but I’d argue that Ricochet is the biggest face on the roster that Ciampa hasn’t faced yet. That would be one hell of a program and a hell of a match, for sure. But, I highly doubt they’d pull the trigger on it after Ricochet just won a belt of his own.
Velveteen Dream
It’s not the traditional ‘heel vs. face’ dynamic, but there are few acts more over in NXT right now than the Velveteen Dream. Plus, the mind games and promos in the buildup to this match would be phenomenal. That’s assuming, of course, that Vince doesn’t call up the Dream….
Keith Lee/Matt Riddle
I mentioned the lack of major face depth atop the NXT roster earlier, so hell – why not try and get one of the new guys over big time with an immediate crack at the NXT Championship? Strike while the iron’s hot and what have you.
Or, hell – maybe he drops the title altogether? Who knows?
Stoney Keeley is the Editor in Chief of The SoBros Network. He is a strong supporter of Team GSD and #BeBetter. “Big Natural” covers the Tennessee Titans, Alabama Crimson Tide football, the WWE, and a whole wealth of nonsense. Follow on Twitter @StoneyKeeley
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